Cuba. Our 37th country and one like no other we've visited. The best way to describe Cuba is that it's a county of contrasts.
On our ride from the airport the countryside looked similar to many other places we've visited such as Belize, El Salvador, Panama, etc... fields sprinkled with palm trees, tall grasses and people walking in thread bare shoes or flip flops. Then, we entered the city and it all felt different. Beautiful old buildings and classic cars mixed with crumbling homes and beat up Russian tin can vehicles. There is a stamp of colonialization but with an island vibe.
It's all so hard to describe so I'll do my best with photos and share the stories of people we met.
Our guest house was on the roof of a beautiful old building that was once a church. It has since been converted to a music conservatory with our host family occupying the top floor. It was so special to be able to enjoy the sights and sounds of Havana from above. As far as the eye could see there wasn't a balcony or roof top deck around that compared!
While our balcony was lovingly cared for with beautifully painted floors, a garden, charming lights, etc... this was the building behind us. As Danny appropriately said, "The city is one earthquake away from disaster." Beautiful buildings set admits ones literally crumbling before your eyes. Literally. We didn't see any falling debris ourselves but the guidebooks all said to walk in the middle of the road because of the cement dropping from the balconies.
We only had 48hours in country so true to Kapic form we packed it in. After we got settled we hit the pavement and started our exploration with a lesson on how Cuban rum is made followed by a late lunch in an old square.
Havana Club Rum
A cool model of an old sugar mill
When out looking for water I discovered a trait that runs through the Cuban people - resourcefulness. My flip flop was a casualty of the cobblestone streets and while I'm pretty tough and don't mind walking around barefoot (my friend Stella would be DYING to know that I was roughing it on the streets of Cuba!) it just wouldn't do for a whole afternoon. I was in a dilemma because I didn't want to loose time exploring by going back to our guest house for a change of shoes so I was debating what to do. When I finally found water a group of workers in a restaurant and I giggled about the condition of my shoe and they fixed me up by putting a plastic bag over my foot and the flip flop and then secured it with another piece of plastic. I couldn't help but grin when I returned to Danny with my foot wrapped in baggies but, hey, it worked!
I was all set to tackle Old Havana and had embraced my new look but the owner of the cigar shop decided to take matters into his own hands and pulled out some tools and a nail and made my shoe good as new. Did I mention that Cubans are incredibly resourceful??!
We ventured along the water front and found some fisherman that Fletcher would have loved to watch and met a boy with a fidget spinner wearing one of Parker's shirts!
When you think of Cuba you probably think of vintage cars. Well, they live up to the imagination! They are incredibly beautiful and to see such cars all over the city in every color was dazzling.
One of our tour guides said you can tell the history of their country by the cars. Prior to 1959 everything was American made. After that you'll find the ugly Russian cars and then most recently there's an infusion of Japanese cars. There are an abundance of taxis and vintage cars but they are still a luxury and not owned by many people. We only saw one gas station out by the airport and in the country many still use horses.
It was hard not to snap a billion photos of these beauties!
Life is lived in community in the street (they are so narrow they feel more like alleys) and in the plazas. Cuba is significantly behind when it comes to technology but we found it incredibly refreshing. To access the internet you have to visit a special store and wait in a long line to buy a card. Then you have to find a wifi spot (you can easily find them because you'll see a bunch of people on their phones huddled together) then scratch off your code and jump online for a pricy $1/hour. Because it's so cumbersome to be online no one is walking around staring at their phones. Instead neighbors are talking to each other, people are sitting outside their places people watching, folks are actually having a conversation while enjoying a meal and teens are sitting by the sea chatting. When there's downtime waiting for food to arrive it's filled with people watching instead of checking email or a feed. Sometimes I wish we could go back in time and return to minimal technology in our own country - it would be better for our souls.
All around the world you'll find kids playing soccer in the park.
Oh the music... spontaneous dancing and music in the street. Music everywhere!
Dominos in the dark
Hanging out listening to musicians in the street
Out of all the countries we have visited, including our own, we have felt the most safe in Cuba. Perhaps it is because of socialist nature of their county or the fact that crimes again tourists hold very heavy sentences but crime, especially violent crime is almost non-existent. As a result, we found ourselves enjoying wandering the city at night without any worries.
You never know when you'll stumble upon an outdoor café.
Let's talk buildings. This is where you can really see how Cuba is a world of contrasts. Some buildings have been maintained while others are literally being propped up by sticks. You can see the differences in the neighbors below. We were guessing that the difference in money comes from tourism since those on government salaries, which is mostly everyone, are equally poor. Either that or old money from before the revolutions.
We took a 3-1/2 hr walking tour through the city. Our guide, Pepe, was a wealth of information.
He was obviously well educated and had a great command of history. He confessed that he thinks his government is afraid of change and uses the embargo as an excuse to hide behind. If there was no embargo they wouldn't have any place to lay blame for the condition of their county. Each person receives a few goods that can be purchased at a government subsidized race but they are sparce - oil, rice, sugar and a few other basics but not nearly enough to carry them through the month. Everything else must be purchased at a rate close to what we pay in the states. An ice cream cone was $2 US and an average lunch at a restaurant was $7US. With Cubans making an average government salary of $25/month it's hard to figure out how they survive. Hence, their resourcefulness AND the black market! Our Airbnb was unable to give us eggs the first morning because she said the chickens died after the hurricane (at least this is the jist we got by the neck breaking hand motion she made). However, miraculously she was able to procure eggs for us for our second breakfast.
The photo below is a neighborhood grocery store. I've never been so thankful for Target. So meager, even by 3rd world standards. Cuba is the only country we've been to where Coca-Cola is no where to be found. Not one single American brand. After seeing a girl carrying Coke bottles miles up into the Himalayas in Nepal we thought we thought Coke was everywhere, apparently not. We also found there to be the absence of the type of trash you usually see in similar countries. My guess is because there's not a lot of snacks and that means no wrappers. What I mean is you don't have people eating bags of chips or candy bars and then tossing the trash in the streets. Sure, it's floating out in the bay but not lying in the streets.
The photo below is a neighborhood grocery store. I've never been so thankful for Target. So meager, even by 3rd world standards. Cuba is the only country we've been to where Coca-Cola is no where to be found. Not one single American brand. After seeing a girl carrying Coke bottles miles up into the Himalayas in Nepal we thought we thought Coke was everywhere, apparently not. We also found there to be the absence of the type of trash you usually see in similar countries. My guess is because there's not a lot of snacks and that means no wrappers. What I mean is you don't have people eating bags of chips or candy bars and then tossing the trash in the streets. Sure, it's floating out in the bay but not lying in the streets.
You see tributes to their revolutionaries everywhere. Fidel and Che are still idolized even though the economy is in shambles. Because of socialism we didn't see any homeless people sleeping in doorways or begging (instead the elderly sell government newspapers) and because of having access to healthcare the people generally have a positive view of the revolution and the changes it brought. However, the young people are beginning to see things differently and not because they know the Kardashians by name. They have a different view of the future. I was shocked to discovered that our beloved walking tour guide Pepe was an orthopedic surgeon just moonlighting as a tour guide to supplement his government income (no wonder he was so concerned when we showed up in flip flops for 4miles of walking). Danny had a hard time believing it was true until the tour guide we met at the cigar factory told us he made 10x the amount his wife made as a doctor just by working part time. There is no incentive to attend college other than reduced military service (3yrs if you don't graduate high school, 2 if you graduate HS and only 1 if you go to college) but that's not enough to make kids want to study only to be paid meager government salaries. According to Pepe, Cubans don't like to work which is why they bring in Indian and Pakistani workers to build their new buildings. Pepe did show us some beautiful sights as well as enlighten us as to the Cuban perspective on life.
There were several old cathedrals left over from the Spanish days. Apparently there is only one Cuban Baroque church ever built (Pepe laughed when he told us it was short stylist period) but Cubans don't seem to have an affinity for one particular religion. I think they default to Catholicism but religion doesn't hold a significant place in their culture.
There were several old cathedrals left over from the Spanish days. Apparently there is only one Cuban Baroque church ever built (Pepe laughed when he told us it was short stylist period) but Cubans don't seem to have an affinity for one particular religion. I think they default to Catholicism but religion doesn't hold a significant place in their culture.
Parts of the city felt very European, especially the cafes!
Live music in one of Hemingway's old haunts
One of my favorite views was our morning coffee overlooking the main plaza near the Capitol. The design is basically a replica of the US Capitol building but apparently it's NOT the same because the architect made it four feet taller.
We took a pedal taxi to one of our last stops on our 48hr world wind trip to Cuba... the Partagas Cigar Factory.
Fidel and his cigar loom large.
We took a pedal taxi to one of our last stops on our 48hr world wind trip to Cuba... the Partagas Cigar Factory.
Our guide, Augustine, led the two of us and another couple through the factory. There are specific jobs that employees are trained for and because it's all owned by the government they make all brands of cigars, Cohiba, Romeo and Juliet and Montecristo among others. Many got their names by the books that were read out loud to keep the workers entertained while doing their jobs.
There are the ladies that pull the stems from the leaves and prepare the wrappers. They are expected to prepare a batch of 1,200/day.
There are the ladies that pull the stems from the leaves and prepare the wrappers. They are expected to prepare a batch of 1,200/day.
The rollers are mostly men and this areas seems like the hippest place to be with beatbox music pumping over the loudspeaker. Cigars are like wine. The price and quality depend on the recipe and the mix of the three parts of the tobacco plant. The rollers produce 80-100 cigars/day each depending on the thickness of what they're rolling.
Those with the best eyes match the cigars by color in a different room. They pack them in boxes only to have them unpacked and labeled later (they could really use an efficiency expert). 
There is a whole room that is dedicated to making the pine boxes pretty with various labels.
Augustine revealed that workers make between $50-$70 a MONTH and that is considered an excellent wage in Cuba. His son is option for a job in tourism instead of seeking college and government employment.
We wish we had more time to explore the rest of Cuba as there is so much more to experience but our hearts were full with the adventure and joy that comes from seeing another part of our amazing world.
Our quick trip to Cuba was so much more than we expected and since the travel restricts start this week our visit was in the nick of time! We agreed with Pepe when he said, "Our governments may not get along but we the people, we love everyone."
